Mini Vacation

Well, I know I just got back to work, but I am off on a mini-vacation for a family reunion. I leave Wednesday after work, which is at noon, and will have Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday with family.
I stop in Indianapolis to pick up my brother Mark and his wife Ashly and bring them the rest of the way with me to my Mom's. Then Thursday night, Grama and Grampa Gardner arrive. Friday we plan to do some sort of field trip and Saturday is the reunion up in Clarksville. Sunday is church and rest and Monday I head home.
It is a short visit, but it will be good to see family again.
Am hoping since Mark is out of a job at the moment that he'll agree to my idea of staying a few extra days and coming up to Wisconsin to visit some other family and friends for a few days. Am tentatively planning on bring Marissa and Elijah home with me for a few weeks as well. I really enjoy having them here with me even though my Mom misses them terribly. Since they homeschool, timing of start does not matter, they can bring it with them and do it here too.

Well, lots to do before then, so I better get to it.

Favorite Foto Friday 08/08/08

This week, its about my parents(all of them!)! They both had anniversaries this month.

This is my mom and stepdad, Sherri & Mike

celebrating 17 years August 7th!

This is my dad and stepmom, Mark & Sandee

celebrating 24 years August 3rd!
I love you all!
Happy Anniversary!

Out of Rehab!

So I graduated yesterday from the Pain Rehabilitation Center(PRC). My discharge summary indicated I excelled in the program and am ready to face the real world again.

So, I am back at work, however, I did get a doctor to sign off on the PRC's recommendations of a gradual return and thus am working four hour shifts for a week, then six hour shifts another week, then back to my eights. This is a blessing as getting back into a routine is always difficult, but trying to incorporate the PRC skills I learned is essential to long term success.

First and foremost, one must breathe! I know you all think you already are, but the good majority of you, are doing so incorrectly. Let me explain a little. Put one hand on your chest and one hand on your tummy and take a breath in and out. Which hand moved?? Was it the hand on your chest? If so, you breathe incorrectly. Look at a baby or a small child, pay attention long enough and you will note they breathe using their tummy(aka diaphragm). Somewhere in our preteen years, most of us stop breathing with our diaphragm and thus, we lose our ability to breathe properly. You see, when you breathe from your diaphragm, you are allowing your body to be oxygenated better.
More oxygenation leads to:
• More oxygen to the body for overall health improvement
• Enhancement of the brain function for clearer thinking and alertness
• More oxygen to the muscles to increase energy and performance
• More oxygen to skin cells for healthier, younger looking skin
• Enhanced metabolism and waste removal
• Enhancement of the body's ability to fight bacteria and viruses
• Better absorption of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients

A second key to the program is exercise! I know you all know this, but how many of us do it? Daily exercise is key, at least 30 minutes and it could be as simple as taking a long walk! The PRC encourages daily stretching exercises and at least 30 minutes of strengthening/aerobic exercise on at least five of seven days, but they do advocate for every day as much as possible. Exercise produces endorphins and endorphins help our body do alot of our daily functions including fighting pain and stress! Yoga is something that I thought I'd never recommend, but the beginner basic yoga called Hatha, is very simplistic and more or less about stretching and breathing correctly, so I actually ended up enjoying that as part of the daily routine.

The two things I mention are only part of the philosophy of the PRC, but are key tenets of the program that ANYONE can do and benefit from.
I'd encourage all of you to try them and tell me different!

I'll fill you in on more at another time, this should keep you busy for awhile.

Prayer needed ~ My brother, Mark

So about ten days ago, my brother walked into his job and they told him they were letting him go.
They couldn't really give him a reason. They did offer him a reference letter.

The thing is, my brother is a hard worker. Doesn't matter what the job is, he tackles it. So why would you fire one of your best employees?

We can't figure it out since they just hired eight new ones, so it can't be a downsizing excuse. The guy who had to tell him the news, didn't even know. He has never had a performance review, but I know he is a good worker or they would have fired him long before now. We think that due to his third anniversary approaching with the company, they wanted him out before they had to increase his benefits. See, at three years, your vacation triples, and you get sick pay and a raise and some other miscellaneous benefits.

They did offer him his bonus he was due from one of the new hires that he recommended, so at least he got that.

SOOOOOOOOO, the big thing is, he needs a job. We all know that the corporate world is downsizing all the time and jobs almost anywhere are hard to come by. HOWEVER, Mark has a few things going for him in that he is a good worker and he had top grades at graduation and was being "hunted" by several accounting firms and thus, getting a new job, providing someone has openings, shouldn't be too difficult.
He is trusting God through all of this and that there is a lesson to be learned.

So the request would be that Mark is able to make the right decision for his next job. He has been married just over a year now and is the main support for the house, so with money tight already, this could be somewhat of a struggle for them depending on how long it takes. He should be able to get unemployment, but we all know its never the same as your check. They are without health insurance too at the moment.

Please pray that Mark goes where God is leading. And please pray that God keeps both Mark & Ashly healthy during this time.
******************************************
Lord~
We know you have a plan in all of this. We don't always know what you are up to, but your plan is always better than ours. Please help Mark make the right choices in applying for new jobs and the offers he receives. Please help Mark & Ashly remain healthy while they have no insurance. Lord just cover them both and be with them in every step they take.
In Your name we pray,
Amen

Happy Anniversary to....................

my Mom and stepdad, Sherri & Mike!
They are celebrating 17 years today!
This photo is from Mark's wedding in June 2007.

Happy Birthday to.........................ME!

I am wishing myself a Happy Birthday!
I am on my second to last day of the Pain Rehab Clinic today.
I am officially 31, but last year, I made the decision to go backwards, so I am back in my twenties at 29!
Woohoo!
Here's to hoping for great things in the next year to come!

Happy Birthday to...........

Grama Connie!Grama Connie is the cute blond one!

It's my Grama's big day today and the best thing about it, no radiation!!!

Woohoo! She finished that up mid-July. She did lose some of her hair since the radiation was directly on her head, so she is wearing a wig presently, but she is hoping her hair will miraculously have changed its ways and grow back quickly. That is her birthday wish! Well, that and good health and probably having me closer would be good! I know she misses not having me around.

I love you Grama!

Hope your day was a good one!

Happy Anniversary to....................

to my Dad and stepmom, Mark & Sandee!
They are celebrating 24 years today!

This photo is from Mark's wedding in June 2007.

Favorite Foto Friday 08/01/08

This week, its about family. This photo was taken in 2006 at Al's wedding. It is my maternal grandparents, their four children and their spouses. back row: Brenda, Tim, Bryan & Sharon

front row: Ken, Peggy, Louise, Wayne, Sherri & Mike

The ones highlighted in purple are my grandparents children.

Have a good weekend!

Tuesday Funnies ~ Kersten once again!

Well on Sunday, Kersten, Jess, Mommy and Mamie took Josh to camp. It was about an hour long drive and both the babies should have been tired and taken a nap, alas, they did not. So Kersten kept asking to sing songs, so we would sing for awhile and then be quiet. Sing some more, be quiet some more.
We got to camp and instead of the quick checkin we were hoping for, we were stuck there two hours! ARGH! Try entertaining a baby and a toddler for that long with no toys or swing set!
So on the way home, Kersten wanted to sing some more and she was insistent on singing the Zaccheus song. I sang it with her three times and told her we needed to switch to a different song. She didn't like that idea and started singing it herself "Zaccheus was a weak man, a weak man was he! He climbed up in a singing tree for the Lord he wanted to see!...........".
She did the rest of it pretty good, but oh goodness, Mommy and Mamie were just a cracking up! No matter how many times we annunciated the words and corrected her, it kept coming out that same way! Technically, she was right, Zaccheus was a weak man until Jesus came along!
What a lesson to get from a three year old?!

Happy Birthday to...........

my cousin Melannie!!!!She's the pretty one! =)

Can't believe you are going to be a momma!!

Happy Birthday kiddo!

Love ya!

PROOF!

So as you all know, I am in the Pain Rehab Clinic for a few weeks. Well yesterday, they had me do some psychological testing to get an idea of my mental ability and clarity.

Turns out, I am super smart! I have one of the best scores they have ever seen! They don't actually say you scored 100%, thats not the scale they used, nor it is an IQ test, but my abilities are far superior to most in my age group.

Can you believe it? I know I know alot of things, but having someone else tell you your brain is off the charts is something I never figured I'd hear.

The actual first question out of the doctor's mouth was "why are you a secretary?"
I know that its technically beneath me from an education standpoint, but its been a mostly decent job. And its not like I haven't tried for other jobs, noone ever gives me the opportunity however.

It will be interesting once I get out of here to see how my perspective has changed. I need to work on my self esteem a little. Perhaps with that piece under control, I can make that change out of the secretarial world.

I am still in awe of the doctor's assessment. I hope to get a copy upon discharge from the program and then perhaps I can better explain the results.

Signing off for now, hope everyone has a good weekend!

Favorite Foto Friday 07/25/08

Well, I am technically incommunicado, but have preset these to go out on their designated Friday so that it keeps the ball rolling.




This week, I am going to show you a photo of my cousin Melissa, her husband Shannan, and her little boy Jacx. Its from Christmas, so of course, he is bigger now.

Have a good weekend!!!

Olivia turns 1

I finally got some pictures of Olivia at her birthday party, so even though its not a Friday, I thought I'd post them since I didn't have them on her birthday.

First bite of sugar! Hmm, this is pretty good!I think I can get the hang of this............... Oooohhh, the licorice tastes awesome!How much more can I have?
All done! Do I have to take a bath?

Tuesday Funnies ~ Tyson

Well, I thought I'd share a funny story related to a girl I work with, Tracy. Her son Tyson has a musculoskeletal disorder that affects his movement and thus he cannot walk. Tracy has to take him to doctor's appointments all the time as they are always trying to find something new to help Tyson be mobile. So she took him to Shriner's up in the cities the other day for his appointments and apparently there is a receptionist there that he has made a connection with.
Prior to their arrival at Shriners, Tracy and her friend were having a conversation about the receptionist and her friend asked if she was cute, Tracy said yeah, so the friend asked if she was smokin' hot? Tracy said, you'd probably think so.
So, can you guess what Ty said to the receptionist upon arrival?

You guessed it!

Michelle, you are smokin' hot!

Michelle laughed, Tracy turned red, and Ty was proud of himself.
Can you believe at three he is the biggest flirt??
Watch out ladies! Ty is on the prowl!

Favorite Foto Friday 07/18/08

Well, I am technically incommunicado, but have preset these to go out on their designated Friday so that it keeps the ball rolling.

This week's favorite foto is of my nephew Austin. He is six months old now and just as cute as ever! He is difficult to catch smiling these days. He does this cute little scrunch face, but couldn't get it captured.

Enjoy the weekend!

Thin Mint Blizzard

Wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
I love blizzards, I love thin mints. You'd think combining them would be spectacular!
Well, I have to say, it was a total let down.

I love most anything that is chocolate and mint, but Dairy Queen's ice cream has a specific flavor to it and it totally came out above the minty taste. There weren't enough cookies in there to be considered a whole thin mint even. At least in my opinion.

My friend Wendi blogged about this too and she wasn't impressed either.

Anyone else have an opinion?

I am going to stick to my old standby, OREO!! YUM! McDonalds or Dairy Queen, doesn't matter, YUM!!!

Update on Lolo

Lolo was better by the time they got her to the hospital. They kept her for observation for a few hours and sent her home around 2.
Thanks for your faithfulness!

Prayer needed ~ Lolo

My friend Lolo is in the hospital this morning.

She was apparently feeling funny this morning and went to the doctor in St. Charles. They said she was having atrial fibrillation and transferred her to OMC Hospital by ambulance. She does not want to go to St Marys as that is where her mother passed away just over six months ago. She doesn't want to face that, can't say I blame her. However, OMC is not as good as Mayo for the more complex conditions, and I am not just being biased either. I know people who would tell you that.
So, she may end up here, on the same floor her mother was on. Hopefully not the same room as I think she would just lose it for sure.
Please pray that it resolves and she can just go home with no further complications.
Thanks!

Tuesday Funnies ~ 4th of July/Jess

I am grounded again. Mama said so.


Ok, lets back up the story a bit:
The weekend of 4th of July was spent with the Peaslee's. My parents couldn't make it up here for the holiday and none of the rest of the family was going to be at Grama's, so I decided to stick close to home and spent it with "my other family." So the whole weekend was mostly lazy, although we did some projects that kept us busy around the house.
Friday we had a big breakfast and then went school clothes shopping for Samantha and Cadi. In the afternoon, we worked on our food contributions and spent the evening at the Cranor's fellowshipping with about a third of the church! The Cranors just got into their new house and it was a good thing its big, there were a ton of people around. We had a good time.

Satuday again we had a big breakfast and then leftovers for lunch in preparation for a big ham dinner. I also made two batches of homemade ice cream. Have never done this before and learned a few things along the way. It tasted magnificent by the way! MMMMMM!! The ham dinner was awesome and complimented by cheesy potatoes, deviled eggs, green bean casserole and rolls. Laurie made lemonade from scratch as well.

Sunday our church was scheduled for an all church outdoor service, so since we didn't have life group responsibilities, we decided we'd go visit LifeChurch in Rochester. Our former associate pastor is the leader there and some of our families went with to build the ministry. IT WAS AWESOME to see how many people have joined already. The room was pretty full on Sunday, granted nine Peaslees, myself and the Bunke clan aren't regulars, but there was still a bunch of people there that weren't Winona transplants. It is awesome to see God blessing Pastor Doug and his outreach because it was definitely a faith thing. No building, no money, no congregants. God is awesome.

After church, we stopped by my house where the boys mowed my lawn. It had been at least three weeks and it was sort of Amazonish, so I am greatful they did that, and in the crazy humidity to boot! After that, Cody treated us all to lunch at Wendy's and then we headed for home. The plan was for the babies, the mommy and the Aimee to take a nap, well, I ended up not being tired, Kersten wasn't either and Jess screamed for nearly an hour, so I finally went and got him. Was trying to sneak out of the house quietly as mommy had a headache, but, she ended up awake anyway. We had tacos for dinner and just vegged in front of the TV the rest of the evening.


So to the funny part, Jess. Oh the kid is so adorable with his bright blue eyes and he can smile and melt your heart! And he is finally confident walking on his own now, so cute! Well, for this weekend, he decided I was his buddy more than mommy. He'd follow me all over the house and if I didn't stop and pick him up, he'd get mad and cry. On Sunday, he was tired about the time church started, but you know how kids fight. Well at one point he jumped from mommy's arms to mine and he snuggled in like for a hug and I was eating it up. He stayed in that position for awhile just rubbing my arm and then fell asleep. He slept on me for pretty much the rest of church. Mommy says he never snuggles with her, so I was grounded. Then that evening as I was preparing to go home he was my shadow as I was gathering all my stuff up. I picked him up and carried him to mommy and said goodbye. He started crying and trying to crawl down mommy and walked back into the kitchen as I was loading my arms up, so I carried him back to mommy again and he was not happy I was leaving.

Makes you feel loved!! Mommy said I was grounded again cause her kid wanted to come home with me. I told her she would always win because she has what he really wants. The ability to nurse him! He is intent on not giving that up. It is down to bedtime only, but he won't give that up for nothing. Laurie is going to have to leave for a week or two for that to happen, cause if he knows she is around, he is not going to relent. He is a smart cookie!



Oh sweet baby boy! God I love this kid!

Rehab

I am going to rehab for three weeks. Sounds funny, doesn't it?
Well, don't get too excited, its not the kind of rehab you are probably thinking.
It is Pain Rehab and it is a Clinic I am going to attend daily for three weeks, 8-4:30. During the three weeks I will learn several things. There is a schedule of things to do daily and because there are several of us, for some activities we are split into two groups. A typical day will look like this:
8am Opening group meeting
8:30 Stretching exercises
9 Group Therapy(different topic everyday)
10 Skills Rehearsal(not really sure what this entails yet)
11 Physical Therapy
LUNCH
1 Group Therapy(different topic everyday)
2 Skills Rehearsal
3 Occupational Therapy/Biofeedback
4 Advanced Relaxation(not sure what this entails either)

So starting July 17th, I'll be off work. The first day is admissions/orientation and then starting July 18th through August 7th, I'll be doing the above mentioned schedule daily.
I am REALLY hoping that all the things they show us, teach us, convey to us are helpful on many levels. Being pain free is the ultimate goal, but headache free and being able to sleep normally would be nice too.

I probably won't post much, if at all, while out on my leave, however, I did schedule a few posts to go out while I am gone, so it'll keep you happy until I get back hopefully.